Meskhetian Turks in Fourth Land: Identity and Socio-economic Integration into American Society

Abstract

This study examines the socio-cultural life in the new land and integration processes into the host community of the 75 Meskhetian Turkish households resettled in Denver, Colorado. The traditional homeland of the Meskhetian Turks, as one of the dozens, if not hundreds, immigrant communities living the U.S.A., is Akhaltsikhe, a district in the region Samtskhe-Javakheti within the borders of the modern-day Georgia. In 1944, the Meskhetian Turks were forcibly removed from their homeland and exiled en masse to various countries in Central Asia by the Soviet Union. A significant part of those resettled in Uzbekistan were transferred to the city of Krasnodar in Russia, after the Ferghana Events of 1989. In 2004, due to the conditions of resettlement, 12,500 Meskhetian Turks immigrated to the U.S, under a refugee program, and dispersed throughout 26 states. Using the methods such as surveys, in-depth interviews and participant observation with an integrated approach, this study examined the family and community social structure of the Meskhetian Turks currently living intensively in Denver, Colorado. The study illustrated their cultural aspects, and tried to identify the present day of the process of integration into the U.S. society, as well as to envisage the probable future of this integration.

Keywords

• Meskhetian Turks
• Colorado
• Socio-cultural Integration
• Identity
• Exile
• Refugee
• Diaspora